Libsyn Directory

301. Felix James and James Grundy, Co-Founders at Small Beer: Mid-Strength (2.1-2.7 %ABV) Beer Category, Friends Starting a Business, Re-Calls, On and Off Trade Development

The FMCG Guys

Release Date: 02/04/2026

319. Bart Ongenaet, Commercial, Supply and Wholesale Director Mexico at Decathlon: Sports Consumer, from Store to Leader, Managing Japan, Retail and Marketplaces, Quality for Everyone

The FMCG Guys

Watch on YouTube: is the Commercial, Supply and Wholesale Director for Mexico at sports retailer Decathlon. When Daniel joined him to record live in Mexico City , he had to enter and go through their store before accessing the office. This is very telling about the organisation, always close to the consumer and to Bart’s own experience in the company, which started managing a small section of a shop in Belgium and has taken him to Japan and now Mexico in senior leadership roles. Tune in to hear about: Bart’s background as a psychologist and playing sports and then...

318. Amit Keswani, Chief Omnichannel and AI Officer at Chalhoub Group live from Shoptalk Luxe: On/Off Line Intergration in Luxury, AI applications, Licences, Risk-Taking in a Career

The FMCG Guys

Watch on YouTube Live from Shoptalk Luxe: is the Chief Omnichannel and AI Officer at the Chalhoub Group, a leading luxury retail group in the Middle East, where he leads customer, technology, loyalty, and AI transformation across a portfolio of hundreds of brands. In this episode recorded live in Abu Dhabi, we discuss the reality of omnichannel in luxury retail, how AI is being implemented in practice, and why the future of commerce will be driven by discoverability on LLMs and conversational shopping experiences. Topics covered: The Chalhoub Group business model across luxury...

317. Monique Perlmutter, VP Sales Riott Media at Marriott: Live from CES, Travel Media, Quirks of Traveling, CPG Case Studies

The FMCG Guys

Watch on YouTube: Recorded live from CES, Daniel sits down with from Marriott’s Riott Media Network to discuss the rise of travel media as a new frontier within commerce media. Monique shares her career journey through digital media, Amazon Ads, and retail media before moving into travel media, where Marriott is building one of the first hotel media networks. The conversation explores how traveler psychology influences spending behavior, how brands can reach consumers throughout the travel journey, and why travel media presents a major opportunity for CPG and brand advertisers....

316. Adam Smith, Head of Retail Media at Iceland and Kiri Masters: Quo Vadis, Retail Media?, UK vs US, In-Store Screens and Measurement, RM dEthics

The FMCG Guys

Quo Vadis, Retail Media? With this question in mind (Where are you going, Retail Media?), we invited two of the best respected voices of this industry: , Retail Media Analyst, and , Head of Retail Media at British Supermarket Iceland. In this conversation, we explore the structural differences between the US and UK markets, why retail media has moved from hype to a lasting industry priority, and how new forces like agentic shopping and AI-powered discovery could reshape the entire model. We also comment Iceland’s ambitious in-store retail media rollout, the importance of measurement and...

315. Beyza Kapu, Global Ecom Tech & Data Analytics Director at L’Oréal and Salim Bachatene, SVP Global Sales, eCommerce at NielsenIQ: Agentic Commerce, Future Path-To-Purchase, Solutions for Brands, Future of Retail

The FMCG Guys

Watch on YouTube: Consumers are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) to discover and evaluate products. This shift is beginning to transform the traditional path-to-purchase, with recommendations now being generated by algorithms rather than search results alone. This makes the digital shelf more important than ever. Product information no longer influences only search results on retailer websites; it increasingly feeds the datasets and content ecosystems that power AI recommendations. To do this, your hosts Christine and Daniel are...

314. Sandie Dilger, CMO at Proper Snacks: Agency to Brand, Better Snacking , Fiber is the new Protein, Fostering Creativity

The FMCG Guys

Watch on YouTube: is the CMO at Proper Snacks, the fast-growing UK snacking company behind Proper and Eat Real. In this episode, she joins Daniel Torres live from London to discuss how Proper is redefining snacking through better-for-you ingredients, bold creativity, culturally relevant branding, and fast-paced innovation, while also sharing lessons from her unconventional journey into FMCG leadership. Tune in to hear about: Reinventing snacking as an act of positive well-being Making healthier snacks mainstream through taste, fiber, and better ingredients Using creativity, design,...

313. Richard Jones, Global GTM Director at Carlsberg: eCom in FMCG, eB2B, Digitalizing Routes to Market, Leading in Crisis, Micro-Customer Centricity, Adapting to Behaviour Changes

The FMCG Guys

is the Global Go-to-Market Director at iconic beer leader Carlsberg. One of the pioneers of Digital in FMCG, he's now leading Sales Digitalization at the Danish group. He joins Daniel to speak about the evolution of FMCG and how he's exporting his Digital experience to accelerate the "physical" mainstraeam business. Tune in to hear about: The evolution of eCommerce in FMCG since he started in the function in 2011 Leading a team through the pandemic when he was based in the US Digital's role in an FMCG today and how it's more than digital commerce How he's applying his eCommerce experience in...

312. Matt Lee, Founder at SMG: Rolling Stones, Retail Media, Toblerone Til Divider, Targeted Coupons, Scaling a 500+ People Business

The FMCG Guys

Watch the visit to Matt's Private Collection here: is the Founder of Retail Media Leader SMG, the operator of some high-profile Media Networks like Boots, ASDA, Deliveroo or WHSmith. He’s also a Guinness Record Rolling Stones collector and one of the most well regarded, as well as colourful, personalities in our industry. He welcomed us in his private collection, where we wondered at all the memorabilia and spoke about his career and Retail Media as a whole. Tune in to hear about: How he became obsessed with the Rolling Stones and the connection with Retail Media Pioneering...

311. Stacia Carr, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Vestiaire Collective Live from Shoptalk Luxe: Bay Area to Europe, Luxury Second Hand, How to Vet Brands, Tech and Business

The FMCG Guys

Watch on YouTube: is the Chief Technology and Product Officer at second-hand Luxury Online Retailer Vestiaire Collective. As someone who grew up personally and professionally in the Bay Area, she brings a different energy to European business, probably pairing the best of both worlds, both from a technical and cultural perspective. We sat down with her at the inaugural Shoptalk Luxe in Abu Dhabi to learn about: How she brings together business and tech Building a luxury online second-hand marketplace Her prior experience in the Bay Area and then in Europe at the likes of SoundCloud and...

310. Marielle Lopez, VP and GM Iberia at Bayer Consumer Healthcare: Women in Business, Mentors, Bias, Feedback, Leadership

The FMCG Guys

is the GM of Iberia at Consumer Healthcare Leader Bayer. In this episode which we are releasing for International Women's Day, she sits down with our host to mutually reflect on their leadership journey. They do that through speaking about the realities of working accross cultures, the evolving role of women in leadership, the importance of mentorship and sponsorship and the inevitable bias they've encountered on the way. Tune in to hear Marielle's thoughts around: Her leadership journey starting in her native Philippines and becoming a Marketing Director in her twenties Cultural...

More Episodes

Don’t miss our visit to Small Beer Brewery on our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/ and YouTube: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spyros-tryfonas-81aba886/

Felix James and James Grundy are the founders of Small Beer, a mid-strength (2.1 to 2.7% ABV) brewery based in South Bermondsey, London. They join Daniel to speak about their journey as Founders, why they decided to go all-in into this category, routes to market and much more.

Tune in to hear about:

What “mid-strength” beer actually means and why it sits between 0.0% and full-strength for people who still want a proper beer
Why Small Beer exists and how it’s trying to solve a very modern problem: keeping the ritual and flavour without paying for it the next day
How they brew for flavour first instead of making a normal beer and stripping the alcohol out later
The early days of the business, from 6:30am coffees and weekend brewing to shipping first orders
The tough early moment when they personally drove around hundreds of stores to replace beer that was good, but not good enough
Their growth plans on and off trade

More

Audio Mixing by Modest Ferrer
Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The FMCG Guys (Dwyer Partners SL) or its partners. The FMCG Guys make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of any information discussed, and accept no responsibility for any decisions or outcomes based on this content. Listeners are encouraged to seek their own professional advice before acting on any of the topics covered.

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